Finishing second from last in his heat of of the decathlon's 1500 metres - a discipline he detests, every stride an agony of effort, face creased with pain - Dan O'Brien looked somewhat less than the Olympic champion he was about to become Plod after laboured plod. The victory margin of 0.36sec was the biggest in the men's Olympic 200m event since 1936, when 0.4sec separated the second-placed Mack Robinson of the United States from the champion - Jesse Owens.Shortly after the US Olympic trials, Johnson received a letter from Owens's widow, Ruth, congratulating him upon his achievements on the track, and the way he conducted himself off it."It was the greatest honour I have ever received in my life," Johnson said. "Whether it's for the gold medal, the world record or the 9,000-point barrier, it always comes down to the 1500," an exhausted O'Brien would say after staggering home in 4min 45.89sec to secure the gold. Steve Ovett, in a famous dig at Daley Thompson, once described the decathlon as "Nine Mickey Mouse events followed by a slow 1500". He had brought the letter along with him on every one of his six visits to the Olympic stadium And in the end, his greatest honour was honoured.. That's the way we train."A lot of people paid a lot of money to see this, but if they saw me in practice, that's where they get their money's worth, because we are going at it."The super-human effort did tell, however, with Johnson pulling out of today's 4x400 relay final, citing a tight hamstring.There was one other significant statistic attached to his performance. After winning the 400m I felt like there was a plan for me after all the setbacks I had had. All I could do was to go out and perform to the best of my ability and leave the rest to God."How, he was asked, had he found the strength to complete eight races successfully on a track so hard that even the sprinters were complaining about its attritional effects?"It is partly mental strength, and partly the programme that my coach, Clyde Hart, has made up We welcome multiple rounds.

I was afraid out there that maybe I wouldn't be able to get the medal It makes you get nervous But that's OK I like to be nervous. I ran like I was nervous."His reversal of fortune at the last Olympics, when his position as 200m favourite was crucially undermined by food poisoning, has served, not surprisingly, as a big motivating factor."Today is, for me, a big relief," he said "It sums up what my career is all about. Every time I went out into the streets, people would mention it."People called me to take the pressure off," he said, adding with a slow grin, "and that was just adding more pressure That's what it's been like for the last six months. Self-imposed they may have been, but these stresses were enormous."Pressure," he said. "There's never been this much pressure on me in my entire life.

Every day when I picked up newspapers and magazines, there was always something about this double. "I just concentrate on the things that I can control and look for specific criteria."What Johnson has found hard to control is the stress which his double plan has imposed The schedule was altered to ease his path He took to the track in gold shoes. "That's something that's left up to the fans' opinion," he said. His kit is always meticulously laid out before races, including pre-race and post-race snacks.It was entirely in character that he should shy away from a question asking him if he regarded himself as "The Man" on track. He is said to keep his passport in the P folder of an impeccably maintained filing cabinet. "That's what happens when you don't do what your coach tells you." There seemed not a trace of irony in his remark.Johnson does have a wry sense of humour which is becoming increasingly obvious as he works to overcome his innate shyness. But he is a man obsessed with detail.He is so tidy that his sister, Deirdre, once complained that his condominium in Dallas "looked like no one ever lived there".